All's Well That Ends Well/Act 3
ACT III. SCENE 1. Florence. A room in the DUKE's palace. Enter the DUKE OF FLORENCE, attended; two French Lords, and Soldiers. DUKE. :So that, from point to point, now have you heard :The fundamental reasons of this war; :Whose great decision hath much blood let forth, :And more thirsts after. FIRST LORD. :Holy seems the quarrel :Upon your grace's part; black and fearful :On the opposer. DUKE. :Therefore we marvel much our cousin France :Would, in so just a business, shut his bosom :Against our borrowing prayers. SECOND LORD. :Good my lord, :The reasons of our state I cannot yield, :But like a common and an outward man :That the great figure of a council frames :By self-unable motion; therefore dare not :Say what I think of it, since I have found :Myself in my incertain grounds to fail :As often as I guess'd. DUKE. :Be it his pleasure. FIRST LORD. :But I am sure the younger of our nature, :That surfeit on their ease, will day by day :Come here for physic. DUKE. :Welcome shall they be; :And all the honours that can fly from us :Shall on them settle. You know your places well; :When better fall, for your avails they fell: :To-morrow to th' field. Exeunt. SCENE 2. Rousillon. A room in the COUNTESS'S palace. COUNTESS and CLOWN. COUNTESS. :It hath happened all as I would have had it, save that he :comes not along with her. CLOWN. :By my troth, I take my young lord to be a very melancholy man. COUNTESS. :By what observance, I pray you? CLOWN. :Why, he will look upon his boot and sing; mend the ruff and sing; :ask questions and sing; pick his teeth and sing. I know a man :that had this trick of melancholy sold a goodly manor for a song. COUNTESS. :Let me see what he writes, and when he means to come. a letter. CLOWN. :I have no mind to Isbel since I was at court. Our old ling :and our Isbels o' the country are nothing like your old ling and :your Isbels o' the court. The brains of my Cupid's knocked out; :and I begin to love, as an old man loves money, with no stomach. COUNTESS. :What have we here? CLOWN. :E'en that you have there. Exit. COUNTESS. : Reads. 'I have sent you a daughter-in-law; she hath :recovered the king and undone me. I have wedded her, not bedded :her; and sworn to make the "not" eternal. You shall hear I am run :away: know it before the report come. If there be breadth enough :in the world, I will hold a long distance. My duty to you. :: Your unfortunate son, ::: BERTRAM.' :This is not well, rash and unbridled boy, :To fly the favours of so good a king; :To pluck his indignation on thy head :By the misprizing of a maid too virtuous :For the contempt of empire. CLOWN. CLOWN. :O madam, yonder is heavy news within between two soldiers and my :young lady. COUNTESS. :What is the matter? CLOWN. :Nay, there is some comfort in the news, some comfort; your son :will not be killed so soon as I thought he would. COUNTESS. :Why should he be killed? CLOWN. :So say I, madam, if he run away, as I hear he does: the danger is :in standing to 't; that's the loss of men, though it be the :getting of children. Here they come will tell you more: for my :part, I only hear your son was run away. Exit. HELENA and the two Gentlemen. SECOND GENTLEMAN. :Save you, good madam. HELENA. :Madam, my lord is gone, for ever gone. FIRST GENTLEMAN. :Do not say so. COUNTESS. :Think upon patience.—Pray you, gentlemen,— :I have felt so many quirks of joy and grief :That the first face of neither, on the start, :Can woman me unto 't.—Where is my son, I pray you? FIRST GENTLEMAN. :Madam, he's gone to serve the Duke of Florence: :We met him thitherward; for thence we came, :And, after some despatch in hand at court, :Thither we bend again. HELENA. :Look on this letter, madam; here's my passport. ::Reads. 'When thou canst get the ring upon my finger, which ::never shall come off, and show me a child begotten of thy body ::that I am father to, then call me husband; but in such a "then" I ::write a "never." :This is a dreadful sentence. COUNTESS. :Brought you this letter, gentlemen? FIRST GENTLEMAN. :Ay, madam; :And for the contents' sake, are sorry for our pains. COUNTESS. :I pr'ythee, lady, have a better cheer; :If thou engrossest all the griefs are thine, :Thou robb'st me of a moiety. He was my son: :But I do wash his name out of my blood, :And thou art all my child.—Towards Florence is he? FIRST GENTLEMAN. :Ay, madam. COUNTESS. :And to be a soldier? FIRST GENTLEMAN. :Such is his noble purpose: and, believe 't, :The duke will lay upon him all the honour :That good convenience claims. COUNTESS. :Return you thither? SECOND GENTLEMAN. :Ay, madam, with the swiftest wing of speed. HELENA. :Reads. 'Till I have no wife, I have nothing in France.' :'Tis bitter. COUNTESS. :Find you that there? HELENA. :Ay, madam. SECOND GENTLEMAN. :'Tis but the boldness of his hand haply, :Which his heart was not consenting to. COUNTESS. :Nothing in France until he have no wife! :There's nothing here that is too good for him :But only she; and she deserves a lord :That twenty such rude boys might tend upon, :And call her hourly mistress. Who was with him? SECOND GENTLEMAN. :A servant only, and a gentleman :Which I have sometime known. COUNTESS. :Parolles, was it not? SECOND GENTLEMAN. :Ay, my good lady, he. COUNTESS. :A very tainted fellow, and full of wickedness. :My son corrupts a well-derived nature :With his inducement. SECOND GENTLEMAN. :Indeed, good lady, :The fellow has a deal of that too much :Which holds him much to have. COUNTESS. :You are welcome, gentlemen. :I will entreat you, when you see my son, :To tell him that his sword can never win :The honour that he loses: more I'll entreat you :Written to bear along. FIRST GENTLEMAN. :We serve you, madam, :In that and all your worthiest affairs. COUNTESS. :Not so, but as we change our courtesies. :Will you draw near? COUNTESS and Gentlemen. HELENA. :'Till I have no wife, I have nothing in France.' :Nothing in France until he has no wife! :Thou shalt have none, Rousillon, none in France; :Then hast thou all again. Poor lord! is't I :That chase thee from thy country, and expose :Those tender limbs of thine to the event :Of the none-sparing war? and is it I :That drive thee from the sportive court, where thou :Wast shot at with fair eyes, to be the mark :Of smoky muskets? O you leaden messengers, :That ride upon the violent speed of fire, :Fly with false aim: move the still-peering air, :That sings with piercing; do not touch my lord! :Whoever shoots at him, I set him there; :Whoever charges on his forward breast, :I am the caitiff that do hold him to it; :And though I kill him not, I am the cause :His death was so effected: better 'twere :I met the ravin lion when he roar'd :With sharp constraint of hunger; better 'twere :That all the miseries which nature owes :Were mine at once. No; come thou home, Rousillon, :Whence honour but of danger wins a scar, :As oft it loses all. I will be gone: :My being here it is that holds thee hence: :Shall I stay here to do't? no, no, although :The air of paradise did fan the house, :And angels offic'd all: I will be gone, :That pitiful rumour may report my flight :To consolate thine ear. Come, night; end, day! :For with the dark, poor thief, I'll steal away. Exit. SCENE 3. Florence. Before the DUKE's palace. Enter the DUKE OF FLORENCE, BERTRAM, PAROLLES, Lords, Soldiers, and others. DUKE. :The general of our horse thou art; and we, :Great in our hope, lay our best love and credence :Upon thy promising fortune. BERTRAM. :Sir, it is :A charge too heavy for my strength; but yet :We'll strive to bear it, for your worthy sake :To the extreme edge of hazard. DUKE. :Then go thou forth; :And fortune play upon thy prosperous helm, :As thy auspicious mistress! BERTRAM. :This very day, :Great Mars, I put myself into thy file; :Make me but like my thoughts, and I shall prove :A lover of thy drum, hater of love. Exeunt. SCENE 4. Rousillon. A room in the COUNTESS'S palace. COUNTESS and Steward. COUNTESS. :Alas! and would you take the letter of her? :Might you not know she would do as she has done, :By sending me a letter? Read it again. STEWARD. :Reads. :'I am Saint Jaques' pilgrim, thither gone: : Ambitious love hath so in me offended :That barefoot plod I the cold ground upon, : With sainted vow my faults to have amended. :Write, write, that from the bloody course of war : My dearest master, your dear son, may hie: :Bless him at home in peace, whilst I from far : His name with zealous fervour sanctify: :His taken labours bid him me forgive; : I, his despiteful Juno, sent him forth :From courtly friends, with camping foes to live, : Where death and danger dog the heels of worth: :He is too good and fair for death and me; : Whom I myself embrace to set him free.' COUNTESS. :Ah, what sharp stings are in her mildest words!— :Rinaldo, you did never lack advice so much :As letting her pass so; had I spoke with her, :I could have well diverted her intents, :Which thus she hath prevented. STEWARD. :Pardon me, madam: :If I had given you this at over-night, :She might have been o'er ta'en; and yet she writes, :Pursuit would be but vain. COUNTESS. :What angel shall :Bless this unworthy husband? he cannot thrive, :Unless her prayers, whom heaven delights to hear :And loves to grant, reprieve him from the wrath :Of greatest justice.—Write, write, Rinaldo, :To this unworthy husband of his wife: :Let every word weigh heavy of her worth, :That he does weigh too light: my greatest grief, :Though little he do feel it, set down sharply. :Dispatch the most convenient messenger:— :When, haply, he shall hear that she is gone :He will return; and hope I may that she, :Hearing so much, will speed her foot again, :Led hither by pure love: which of them both :Is dearest to me I have no skill in sense :To make distinction:—provide this messenger:— :My heart is heavy, and mine age is weak; :Grief would have tears, and sorrow bids me speak. Exeunt. SCENE 5. Without the walls of Florence. an old Widow of Florence, DIANA, VIOLENTA, MARIANA, and other Citizens. WIDOW. :Nay, come; for if they do approach the city we shall lose :all the sight. DIANA. :They say the French count has done most honourable service. WIDOW. :It is reported that he has taken their greatest commander; :and that with his own hand he slew the duke's brother. tucket afar off. :We have lost our labour; they are gone a contrary way: hark! you :may know by their trumpets. MARIANA. :Come, let's return again, and suffice ourselves with the report :of it. Well, Diana, take heed of this French earl: the honour of :a maid is her name; and no legacy is so rich as honesty. WIDOW. :I have told my neighbour how you have been solicited by a :gentleman his companion. MARIANA. :I know that knave; hang him! one Parolles: a filthy officer he is :in those suggestions for the young earl.—Beware of them, Diana; :their promises, enticements, oaths, tokens, and all these engines :of lust, are not the things they go under; many a maid hath been :seduced by them; and the misery is, example, that so terrible :shows in the wreck of maidenhood, cannot for all that dissuade :succession, but that they are limed with the twigs that threaten :them. I hope I need not to advise you further; but I hope your :own grace will keep you where you are, though there were no :further danger known but the modesty which is so lost. DIANA. :You shall not need to fear me. WIDOW. :I hope so.—Look, here comes a pilgrim. I know she will lie :at my house: thither they send one another; I'll question her.— HELENA in the dress of a pilgrim. :God save you, pilgrim! Whither are bound? HELENA. :To Saint Jaques-le-Grand. :Where do the palmers lodge, I do beseech you? WIDOW. :At the Saint Francis here, beside the port. HELENA. :Is this the way? WIDOW. :Ay, marry, is't. Hark you! They come this way. march afar off. :If you will tarry, holy pilgrim, :But till the troops come by, :I will conduct you where you shall be lodg'd; :The rather for I think I know your hostess :As ample as myself. HELENA. :Is it yourself? WIDOW. :If you shall please so, pilgrim. HELENA. :I thank you, and will stay upon your leisure. WIDOW. :You came, I think, from France? HELENA. :I did so. WIDOW. :Here you shall see a countryman of yours :That has done worthy service. HELENA. :His name, I pray you. DIANA. :The Count Rousillon: know you such a one? HELENA. :But by the ear, that hears most nobly of him: :His face I know not. DIANA. :Whatsoe'er he is, :He's bravely taken here. He stole from France, :As 'tis reported, for the king had married him :Against his liking: think you it is so? HELENA. :Ay, surely, mere the truth; I know his lady. DIANA. :There is a gentleman that serves the count :Reports but coarsely of her. HELENA. :What's his name? DIANA. :Monsieur Parolles. HELENA. :O, I believe with him, :In argument of praise, or to the worth :Of the great count himself, she is too mean :To have her name repeated; all her deserving :Is a reserved honesty, and that :I have not heard examin'd. DIANA. :Alas, poor lady! :'Tis a hard bondage to become the wife :Of a detesting lord. WIDOW. :Ay, right; good creature, wheresoe'er she is :Her heart weighs sadly: this young maid might do her :A shrewd turn, if she pleas'd. HELENA. :How do you mean? :May be, the amorous count solicits her :In the unlawful purpose. WIDOW. :He does, indeed; :And brokes with all that can in such a suit :Corrupt the tender honour of a maid; :But she is arm'd for him, and keeps her guard :In honestest defence. :MARIANA. :The gods forbid else! WIDOW. So, now they come:— with a drum and colours, a party of the Florentine army, BERTRAM, and PAROLLES. :That is Antonio, the Duke's eldest son; :That, Escalus. HELENA. :Which is the Frenchman? DIANA. :He; :That with the plume: 'tis a most gallant fellow. :I would he lov'd his wife: if he were honester :He were much goodlier: is't not a handsome gentleman? HELENA. :I like him well. DIANA. :'Tis pity he is not honest? yond's that same knave :That leads him to these places; were I his lady :I would poison that vile rascal. HELENA. :Which is he? DIANA. :That jack-an-apes with scarfs. Why is he melancholy? HELENA. :Perchance he's hurt i' the battle. PAROLLES. :Lose our drum! well. MARIANA. :He's shrewdly vex'd at something. :Look, he has spied us. WIDOW. :Marry, hang you! MARIANA. :And your courtesy, for a ring-carrier! BERTRAM, PAROLLES, Officers, and Soldiers. WIDOW. :The troop is past. Come, pilgrim, I will bring you :Where you shall host: of enjoin'd penitents :There's four or five, to great Saint Jaques bound, :Already at my house. HELENA. :I humbly thank you: :Please it this matron and this gentle maid :To eat with us to-night; the charge and thanking :Shall be for me: and, to requite you further, :I will bestow some precepts of this virgin, :Worthy the note. BOTH. :We'll take your offer kindly. Exeunt. SCENE 6. Camp before Florence. BERTRAM, and the two French Lords. FIRST LORD. :Nay, good my lord, put him to't; let him have his way. SECOND LORD. :If your lordship find him not a hilding, hold me no more in your :respect. FIRST LORD. :On my life, my lord, a bubble. BERTRAM. :Do you think I am so far deceived in him? FIRST LORD. :Believe it, my lord, in mine own direct knowledge, without any :malice, but to speak of him as my kinsman, he's a most notable :coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise-breaker, :the owner of no one good quality worthy your lordship's :entertainment. SECOND LORD. :It were fit you knew him; lest, reposing too far in his virtue, :which he hath not, he might at some great and trusty business, in :a main danger fail you. BERTRAM. :I would I knew in what particular action to try him. SECOND LORD. :None better than to let him fetch off his drum, which you hear :him so confidently undertake to do. FIRST LORD. :I with a troop of Florentines will suddenly surprise him; such I :will have whom I am sure he knows not from the enemy; we will :bind and hoodwink him so that he shall suppose no other but that :he is carried into the leaguer of the adversaries when we bring :him to our own tents. Be but your lordship present at his :examination; if he do not, for the promise of his life, and in :the highest compulsion of base fear, offer to betray you, and :deliver all the intelligence in his power against you, and that :with the divine forfeit of his soul upon oath, never trust my :judgment in anything. SECOND LORD. :O, for the love of laughter, let him fetch his drum; he says he :has a stratagem for't: when your lordship sees the bottom of his :success in't, and to what metal this counterfeit lump of ore will :be melted, if you give him not John Drum's entertainment, your :inclining cannot be removed. Here he comes. FIRST LORD. :O, for the love of laughter, hinder not the honour of his design: :let him fetch off his drum in any hand. PAROLLES. BERTRAM. :How now, monsieur! this drum sticks sorely in your disposition. SECOND LORD. :A pox on 't; let it go; 'tis but a drum. PAROLLES. :But a drum! Is't but a drum? A drum so lost!—There was excellent :command! to charge in with our horse upon our own wings, and to :rend our own soldiers. SECOND LORD. :That was not to be blamed in the command of the service; it was a :disaster of war that Caesar himself could not have prevented, if :he had been there to command. BERTRAM. :Well, we cannot greatly condemn our success: some dishonour we :had in the loss of that drum; but it is not to be recovered. PAROLLES. :It might have been recovered. BERTRAM. :It might, but it is not now. PAROLLES. :It is to be recovered: but that the merit of service is seldom :attributed to the true and exact performer, I would have that :drum or another, or hic jacet. BERTRAM. :Why, if you have a stomach, to't, monsieur, if you think your :mystery in stratagem can bring this instrument of honour again :into his native quarter, be magnanimous in the enterprise, and go :on; I will grace the attempt for a worthy exploit; if you speed :well in it, the duke shall both speak of it and extend to you :what further becomes his greatness, even to the utmost syllable :of your worthiness. PAROLLES. :By the hand of a soldier, I will undertake it. BERTRAM. :But you must not now slumber in it. PAROLLES. :I'll about it this evening: and I will presently pen down my :dilemmas, encourage myself in my certainty, put myself into my :mortal preparation; and, by midnight, look to hear further from :me. BERTRAM. :May I be bold to acquaint his grace you are gone about it? PAROLLES. :I know not what the success will be, my lord, but the attempt I :vow. BERTRAM. :I know thou art valiant; and, to the possibility of thy :soldiership, will subscribe for thee. Farewell. PAROLLES. :I love not many words. Exit. FIRST LORD. :No more than a fish loves water.—Is not this a strange fellow, :my lord? that so confidently seems to undertake this business, :which he knows is not to be done; damns himself to do, and dares :better be damned than to do't. SECOND LORD. :You do not know him, my lord, as we do: certain it is that he :will steal himself into a man's favour, and for a week escape a :great deal of discoveries; but when you find him out, you have :him ever after. BERTRAM. :Why, do you think he will make no deed at all of this, that so :seriously he does address himself unto? FIRST LORD. :None in the world: but return with an invention, and clap upon :you two or three probable lies: but we have almost embossed him, :—you shall see his fall to-night: for indeed he is not for your :lordship's respect. SECOND LORD. :We'll make you some sport with the fox ere we case him. He was :first smok'd by the old Lord Lafeu: when his disguise and he is :parted, tell me what a sprat you shall find him; which you shall :see this very night. FIRST LORD. :I must go look my twigs; he shall be caught. BERTRAM. :Your brother, he shall go along with me. FIRST LORD. :As't please your lordship: I'll leave you. Exit. BERTRAM. :Now will I lead you to the house, and show you :The lass I spoke of. SECOND LORD. :But you say she's honest. BERTRAM. :That's all the fault: I spoke with her but once, :And found her wondrous cold; but I sent to her, :By this same coxcomb that we have i' the wind, :Tokens and letters which she did re-send; :And this is all I have done. She's a fair creature; :Will you go see her? SECOND LORD. :With all my heart, my lord. Exeunt. SCENE 7. Florence. A room in the WIDOW'S house. HELENA and Widow. HELENA. :If you misdoubt me that I am not she, :I know not how I shall assure you further, :But I shall lose the grounds I work upon. WIDOW. :Though my estate be fallen, I was well born, :Nothing acquainted with these businesses; :And would not put my reputation now :In any staining act. HELENA. :Nor would I wish you. :First give me trust, the count he is my husband, :And what to your sworn counsel I have spoken :Is so from word to word; and then you cannot, :By the good aid that I of you shall borrow, :Err in bestowing it. WIDOW. :I should believe you; :For you have show'd me that which well approves :You're great in fortune. HELENA. :Take this purse of gold, :And let me buy your friendly help thus far, :Which I will over-pay, and pay again :When I have found it. The count he woos your daughter :Lays down his wanton siege before her beauty, :Resolv'd to carry her: let her in fine, consent, :As we'll direct her how 'tis best to bear it, :Now his important blood will naught deny :That she'll demand: a ring the county wears, :That downward hath succeeded in his house :From son to son, some four or five descents :Since the first father wore it: this ring he holds :In most rich choice; yet, in his idle fire, :To buy his will, it would not seem too dear, :Howe'er repented after. WIDOW. :Now I see :The bottom of your purpose. HELENA. :You see it lawful then: it is no more :But that your daughter, ere she seems as won, :Desires this ring; appoints him an encounter; :In fine, delivers me to fill the time, :Herself most chastely absent; after this, :To marry her, I'll add three thousand crowns :To what is pass'd already. WIDOW. :I have yielded: :Instruct my daughter how she shall persever, :That time and place, with this deceit so lawful, :May prove coherent. Every night he comes :With musics of all sorts, and songs compos'd :To her unworthiness: it nothing steads us :To chide him from our eaves; for he persists, :As if his life lay on 't. HELENA. :Why, then, to-night :Let us assay our plot; which, if it speed, :Is wicked meaning in a lawful deed, :And lawful meaning in a lawful act; :Where both not sin, and yet a sinful fact: :But let's about it. Exeunt. Category:Article Subpages